Microsoft wants Google traffic

Internet Explorer advertises for MSN if searching for Google!

zgb999

12:07 pm on Apr 24, 2003 (gmt 0)

I don't know whether you have this in other parts of the world but if I enter Google in the address bar of Internet Explorer I get [search.msn.ch...] which basically tells you: "Why are you looking for a search engine if you already found one". On this popup window you can start searching on MSN.

Microsoft obviously uses its power to get people that are actually looking for Google to MSN search!

Tropical Island

10:17 am on Apr 25, 2003 (gmt 0)

From Venezuela we get: [search.msn.com...] srch=105&FORM=AS5&q=google Top listing is Google.com. Second listing is MSN search with an image of an MSN search page. The linking url is ads.msn.com/ads/adredir.asp.....and ending with ...Goggle&ImgFlag... (that's all I can see.) There are also "Popular Google topics" at the top of the page with 4 links.

albert

10:43 am on Apr 25, 2003 (gmt 0)

Germany MSIE 6, default settings:

If I type in Google, result is a MSN Popup saying in german: "Why search a search engine if you've found one?", with input box for MSN search.

Who made that mistake helping Mr. G$t$s with that dirty operating system years ago?

jomaxx

6:21 pm on Apr 25, 2003 (gmt 0)

Now it's a sin that Google doesn't rank #1 for "search engines"? This whole matter is pretty trivial; hardly Microsoft's worst offense. Given MSIE's dominance in the browser field, I'm afraid we will see much worse abuses of power in the future.

Skylo

3:39 pm on Apr 26, 2003 (gmt 0)

Why wouldn't google try develop a browser of their own. I know that msn has the whole dominance factor going on, but surely Google knows that if they had to do such a thing it would be eaten up by us webmasters? If google is going to be the sheriff of the internet then they will have to eventually look at this factor?

Any comments GG?

waynet

4:29 pm on Apr 26, 2003 (gmt 0)

I'll have to add this to my reasons for blocking the msn.com domain on my router.

vincevincevince

4:40 pm on Apr 26, 2003 (gmt 0)

Why wouldn't google try develop a browser of their own

I like that idea... I really do :) It could redefine the whole internet to have google not as a tool, but as the way the net works... i can see very very great potential here :) And add some new features, such as google interaction with websites or the like...

jaski

6:43 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

Am I seeing the strangest result of all .. when I type google in the address window .. and click enter .. I am redirected to this page [webmasterworld.com...] .. serious .. I tried launching fresh IE window and same thing again .. am I missing some thing here ..

IE 5.5

anallawalla

6:56 am on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

As someone said, this is partly a result of the IE settings. You can make it not do a search if you type a non-URI in the address bar.

Added: I revisited Msg#22 and saw that for some reason my default search was set to Yahoo. I changed it to MSN and I did not get the behaviour reported in Sweden and the German speaking countries.

I believe that one can force the search to point to Google but it could be a registry change. Seems to come up now and then in newsgroups.

- Ash

Oaf357

9:07 pm on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

In Windows 2000 with IE6 it's in:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

The key you're looking for is:

Search Page

Hope that helps anyone who's interested.

albert

9:21 pm on Apr 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

Olaf: Thank you. Albeit I guess a lot of people here do know how to change browser settings this or that way, or use other browsers.

But many users don't. So M$ helps those users, at least in some countries. Really altruistic.

waynet

2:00 am on Apr 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

I have windows 2000 and IE6, with that registry setting set to go to google, but it still tries to go to msn. I tried searching the registry and removed all that I can find for msn, but it still tries to go there. Oh well, at least it is simple to block.